Buffaloes are always associated with the culture of the Plains Indians; and at one time, their dark brown forms covered the Central Plains by the millions. Due to the consistency of their brown color with no spots, the people of the Plains would immediately notice a buffalo of a different color. From time to time Indians and white hunters would report a white buffalo sighting, but these sightings were extremely rare. A white buffalo probably occurs once in a hundred years, and their appearance would be interpreted as a good sign to the Indians.
Obviously a white buffalo could command a good price when available, but the odds of finding a white buffalo in the wild was no better than a poor man becoming a millionaire in the Texas lottery. The only way to improve the chances of obtaining a white buffalo was by the selective breeding of captive buffaloes until the right combination occurred. In the 1870's, the white man was not that interested in buffalo breeding; therefore, it was left to an Indian to undertake the project.
The Indian who tackled the project was Chief Atomtombalm of the Northern Kootenay Indians of Canada. Chief Atomtombalm had already gained considerable experience in the breeding of wild polar bears in a project sponsored by the Canadian government. Chief Atomtombalm had convinced the Grantors of Canadian tax money that he could eventually get brown and even black bears by selectively breeding Arctic Polar bears. Despite considerable sums of money spent on the project and ten years of effort, the polar bear breeding program was not a success.
The project's failure did not discourage Chief Atomtombalm. If
anything, the failed polar bear to black bear breeding project
whetted the Chief's appetite for more grant monies. Since, he
said to himself; they bought that polar bear proposal of breeding
for color change, why not propose a color change breeding program
for buffaloes. When he submitted his proposal to the Canadian
government, the grantors of tax monies actually gave the chief
a standing ovation for such a brilliant project proposal. Who,
they exclaimed, but Chief Atomtombalm would have the courage and
experience to make brown buffaloes white.
Chief Atomtombalm immediately initiated his breeding project; but after ten more years of selective breeding, he had produced only one non-brown buffalo. This was the famous blue buffalo that is known to us by the name Piki. The Canadian government eventually stopped the grant monies, and Piki was sold to the Ringling and Bailey Circus, where he became quite an attraction. Piki and the Circus toured Europe several times, and Piki is buried just outside Budapest where he died in 1881 while performing his famous buffalo stampede act. The king of Hungary attended the funeral.
After twenty years of Canadian grant monies
and the proceeds from the sale of Piki, Chief Atomtombalm lived
quite comfortably in Manitoba, Canada. He was able to educate
all his children with university degrees, but he could not interest
any of them in blue buffalo breeding. Chief Atomtombalm died in
1890, but not before he learned that his daughter was experimenting
with the raising of blue corn. She was a vegetarian; who, because
of her East Indian religion could not eat white corn. Chief Atomtombalm
died very happy knowing that she was following in his footsteps.